Talk To Scott

So how do many people pick their realtors ? That is something that has always interested me. Before I became a real estate agent, I was a high school coach for 31 years. I bought and sold houses often….too often, in fact, but that is the subject of another blog. I did what other people do. I made an assortment of decisions. I picked someone off of the sign; I picked someone out of a phone book; chose the mother of a player I coached(really bad decision); got a recommendation from a friend; I even chose someone from a newspaper ad with either a tumor or a phone stuck to her ear. One thing was certain: I didn’t put a great deal of thought into my decisions. We (meaning, my wife, my various realtors, and I) muddled along and managed to achieve the goal of buying and selling houses. Obviously, I could have done better. Here are some things that you might consider.
 Time on the job. Experience does have its advantages.
 Number of recent sales. The average agent sells about 6 houses a year. I hope that you are looking for someone who is above average. Past performance is generally an indication of future performance.
 List price versus sold price for you potential employee. In other words, does the agent you are employing have the skills necessary to price the house correctly? That is a sales skill, which is rather important for a person in sales.
 Does the realtor have a network of professionals that aid in the transaction? Can he/she recommend someone who can help you find a mortgage, make home repairs, stage your house, provide a home warranty, or inspect a home once it is under contract?
 What kind of support does the agent’s office offer? Is it a one man band—operating on a cell phone, or is it a professional business with support staff, a relocation department, multiple websites, and name recognition which attracts buyers?
 How will I be updated? Phone? Email? Text?
 Referrals? Can your potential agent provide you with the names of his most recent clients?
Let’s face it. You are going to hire an employee, someone who is going to help you with the most important purchase of your life. Doesn’t it make sense to hire someone whose professional skills are worthy of the task?

Hey, who says San Angelo doesn’t have anything to do? Saturday we went to the Chicken Ranch on Martin Luther King Boulevard. Interesting doesn’t begin to describe it. The reason we went last Saturday was the fact that the first Saturday of the month is supposed have interesting things for kids. I think I enjoyed it more than they did. Here is what I found at the Chicken Ranch.
• Renaissance dancers. It certainly wasn’t the Texas Two Step that the strangely clad people were doing. Pretty cool.
• A band with a fiddle player, local legend Coy Moses, playing a country favorite , “Faded Love,” among others. You can’t do much better than that
• Incredible jewelry. Booths abounded with handmade jewelry. Move over Santa Fe, New Mexico.
• Pottery. I could watch clay on a wheel, taking the shape given to it by experienced and artistic hands.
• A homemade lathe. My son and I got to see how a craftsman might make furniture. He and I actually shaped wood.
• Fact painting and portraits by local artists.
• Paintings of all kinds. Every gallery held the promise of something exciting. Western, abstract, Christian, and who knows what awaited me.
• Canned and pickled vegetables of all descriptions. Ok, where else can somebody buy pickled watermelon rind? I bought some and it is amazingly good.
• Homemade root beer. Good stuff.
• Someone welding a statue of assorted pieces of metal. It was someone on a horse…I think.
• Interesting people. I have always been a people watcher. The folks at the ranch are a collection of aging hippies, curious yuppies, people with puppies, ladies with babies, and people who just like a good time.

I am not a regular at the Chicken Ranch, although I have been several times, but I can assure you that there is something for everyone. Get your kids, load up and go visit. I’ll certainly come back, but I have yet to see a chicken.

Before I write, let me confess to several things: First, I am an unabashed bleeding heart liberal. Now I understand that is not in vogue in West Texas, but I’ll put my liberalism in a context that I know everyone in our community will understand. For me liberalism is making an impact, doing something that makes what I’m part of better. When I was a high school coach, the key question for a player to ask himself was, “Is the team better because I am part of it?” If everyone from the best player to the least talented could answer in the affirmative, you had a pretty good team. As a community member, I have to ask myself, “Is where I live better because I am here?” Secondly, I must confess that the thing that I believe that all of us have an obligation to do is help the least among us. I don’t believe that there is someone who is undeserving of a helping hand. I left the judgment business a long time ago. So I have been looking for a place to do something “good.” More importantly, I want my two young children to have a social conscience. I want them to know that part of “American Exceptionalism,” in which I believe, is an obligation to serve their community, their fellow man, and their country. By the way, I think my two older kids are doing very well in this regard. My son, Kris, is a Major in the U.S. Army and has hit the service mark well. His sister, Kathryn, just ran a food drive for the firm she works for in Los Angeles that collected 40,000 cans of food for a local food bank. Wow.
Having said all that, what has inspired my liberal self into action was a visit by Bob Knox from Rust Street Ministries who described all of the ways in which a person could help make San Angelo a better place. Of course, there is the chance to donate canned and packaged food, clothing, and sort and distribute the donated items. All these are very good things to do. But the thing that grabbed me was the Garden of Eden. There community members can grow food, keep some for their own use, and donate the majority of it to Rust Street. Wow! This was cool on a lot of levels. First, I do not want my kids, Kort and Abby, to think that vegetables come only from cans, bags from the freezer, and the shelf at HEB. I come from a long line of Central Texas Rednecks, who raised their own food. I want my kids to know what that is like, and do something worthwhile with the bounty of the harvest. This is absolutely a great deal. Volunteerism as it should be. So I am off to Rust Street to join up. The plan, which is percolating as I write, is to ask some of my similarly inclined friends to join us in tending our part of Eden, and learn about planting, tending and harvesting vegetables. Then, assuming that my black thumb does not cause blight to visit the crop, do something worthwhile with the harvest.
I think this is a great opportunity for service and a great chance to teach my kids something that will benefit them more than those they serve. I would hope that many of you would find a way to contribute. So I hoe, I hoe, it’s off to Rust Street, I go. Bad pun, I know, but I couldn’t resist. See you at the cabbage patch.

My broker, whom I always listen to, told me a story recently about his son, who was looking for a home in San Antonio. The conversation went something like this: Dad, “Well, my son, do you want me to find you a realtor? I can get you a good one.” Son, “ Gee, Dad, I don’t see any need to get a real estate agent; I can find out everything that I need to know on the internet.” A long, awkward pause followed that conversation. There is something important to learn from that anecdote. Aside from the fact that sons often don’t listen to their fathers, the lesson here is that many people don’t understand the value that the real estate agent brings to the table.
• Expertise is not a bad thing. It’s a pretty complicated process. Disclosures, inspections, deeds, settlement statements. Even if you have sold 3 or 4 houses, a really good agent will sell over 50 a year. He might know more than you.
• Objectivity is a really good thing. A good agent will know if a particular house will suit your needs and can tell you about what might happen when you sell it, which most people will.
• Insider trading is a good thing in the real estate market. A good, active agent will know about properties that aren’t listed with a broker but can be sold.
• Been there, done that. Negotiating is an acquired skill, which your agent has hopefully acquired. Be wary of an agent who can’t successfully negotiate for his own commission. How well will he/she do when it’s about your sale or purchase?
• A good agent can remain dispassionate. It his business; you have an emotional stake in this that clouds your judgment. Sometimes that other pair of eyes helps.
Just some thoughts about real estate, of course. Oh, and a bit of advice, listen to your dad.

I get asked all the time “What’s the market like?” My response is always a sunny, “Great!” People often greet that with some skepticism, figuring I guess that a salesman would try to offer the best possible outlook on a grim picture. I guess that my friends are right to be doubtful, given the national news. Here is some news that substantiates my “sunny” outlook on things. This is national news, but good news. I also want you to remember that San Angelo is in much better shape that other parts of the country. Our unemployment rate is about 6.3% and our housing market is still pretty good.
The good news?
• 30 year fixed mortgages are now at 4.89 %. That is sweet.
• 15 year fixed mortgages are now at 4.32%. Sweeter
• The mortgage rate index is up 38.4% compared to this week last year. Applications are up. Yea!
• The purchase index is up 12.9% over the last week. People are actually buying.
• The stock market continues to rally. Ok, some of those guys on Wall Street don’t make our pulse race, but this is and will always be a great economic indicator.
So what does mean? I guess the sky is not falling after all. If you have been hesitating to dip you toes into the market, now is a pretty good time to do it. Oh, by the way, I got my information from Realtor.org, which is a very good source for information about real estate for guys like me.

My dad used to say that the little things are what made life worth living. Of course, like all of the pearls of wisdom dispensed by my father, this one was on the mark. One of the little things that we San Angelo residents enjoy is the sound of rain on a roof. The recent Seattle-like weather made me think about the things that I think about when it rains.

• I think about the smell of rain. Of course, our fifth grade science teachers taught us that it not the rain we’re smelling; it’s the wet earth that we scent. Whatever, it is, when it rains, it smells good.
• I think about the sounds of rain. I like the pitter-patter on my roof, the sweet sound of a good drip into my flower bed, the gush of running water flowing down the street.
• I think about seeing the rooster in the newspaper. Rain is such an event in West Texas that our newspaper chronicles the event with a special symbol, a red rooster. I don’t quite get why a rooster is linked with rain, but, oh well, I don’t get a lot of things.
• I think about dueling rain gauges. I have a rain gauge in my garage that I will put up when I get around to it. But most West Texans have a rain gauge that they actually use to measure God’s output. It works like this. It rains; my friends all run to the rain gauge, measure their total, and race everyone to the coffee shop to brag about who has the most rain.
• Farmers fit in their own sub-category when it comes to rain. It’s never enough; it’s never at the right time; and it is either a blessing or a curse. I am not giving farmers a hard time. If my job was totally dependent on the weather, I would worry about it too.
• I think about churches and how we alternately pray for or give thanks for the rain. It’s a sign of the rain’s significance to our community.
• I think about turning off my sprinkler system for a while and saving money.
• I think about how this charges wells, fills up lakes(hopefully), greens golf courses, and cleans the streets.
• I think about how it makes everyone feel better. Think about how many people you talked to in the past few days who said some variation of “Isn’t this incredible.” Rain creates a buzz in West Texas.
• One last thing that rains does for me is make want to lay around and snooze. I think about that a lot.

Wow! This is a really important topic, one that deserves a detailed explanation. This is probably the single most important thing for a potential seller to understand. Ok, here goes. You, the seller, must think about houses that are for sale as commodities, products for sale—not homes. These commodities compete in the marketplace for a buyer’s attention. They are inventory—just like chips on the grocer’s shelf.

Just like a good grocer knows the rate at which his chips sell, a good realtor will understand how fast houses in a particular price range sell. Think of it this way, in a particular price range or area—six houses sell a month. There are currently 48 on the market. That means there is an 8 month supply. That is a buyer’s market. If you are a seller, you must do something to distinguish your bag of chips, A.K.A. your house, from the other products for sale.

First of all, it helps to have the best house. However, It also helps to have the best price. You know that 6 are going to sell, so you must do all you can to have the best house AND the best price. If the scenario were different, and 6 sold a month and only 6 were for sale—Hooray—odds are yours is going to sell. Why? It is now a seller’s market.

The absorption rate speaks to the most important law of economics—supply and demand. High supply—low demand is a buyer’s market. Low supply—high demand is a seller’s market.

If you want to know what the absorption rate is and how it impacts you, talk to Scott.

So are you ready to sell? What do you need to do? Imagine that you are one of my favorite cartoon characters, Dagwood Bumstead, and you get out the jar filled with Daisy’s Honey-do’s. Instead of postponing them one more time, work your way through the jar. The last thing a buyer wants to look at is a bunch of repairs. To a buyer, repair$ mean money!! So that means you lo$e money. If you take the time to make a few basic inexpen$ive repairs, you might make your house the one that sells in a tough market. Think of it this way, there is a reason that used care dealers “detail” a car before they put it on the market. If it shines, it sells. So make your house shine.

1. Remember what Mom told you about first impressions. She was right. Clear out those flowers beds, trim the grass, fix the old screen door and paint the front door.
2. Check out that roof. If you have missing shingles, have a roofer replace them. The last thing you want is a buyer thinking that there s a serious roof problem.
3. Reseat the toilet and fix dripping faucets. In San Angelo, since the water is so hard, you probably ought to look at the fittings on the hot water heater and see if there is corrosion. If there us a problem, fix it.
4. Touch up the paint and baseboards
5. Finally give it a through cleaning. Windows, floors, cupboards, tubs ( yes that means the soap scum has to go) and carpets.
6. What about Rex and Fluffy? Pet smells kill equity. I’m not saying that your pets have to go to the shelter. I have a dog too! However, do something about the smells, stains and litter boxes.

Once these things are out of the way, call your friendly real estate professional, get a market analysis, a marketing plan and wait for the offers. Oops, I forgot the most important detail. Call Me!

What is a “short sale?”  Well, it’s certainly not something that is fun to talk about. Simply defined, a “short sale” is a situation where the market value of the property is less than the amount the seller owes his/her lender. For a short sale, the lender must agree to accept less than the full amount due.  Why would a lender do that?

There are several  reasons. First of all, the lender really doesn’t want to own houses. It is a huge headache for them to repossess, list and sell homes. It is a costly, time-consuming process. The reality is that often it better for the lender to “cut its losses” and allow the owner/borrower to sell short.

This is cold business driven calculus, not motivated by “feel good” sentimentalism. I can’t blame lenders for the problem. Here is why I bring it up. We might see some of these situations in San Angelo in the coming months. If you are someone who has a problem, the last thing that you want to occur is repossession. So talk to your lender. See if you can work something out. Then you might want to talk to them about a “short sale.”

Of course everyone in the housing industry is watching the national news and wondering if the negative reports that we see daily are having an impact on the San Angelo real estate market. The answer is no. San Angelo is still and for the foreseeable future will continue to be a strong market.

Why? I believe the answers are multi-faceted. Goodfellow Air Force Base, with its unique missions, is a boost to the economy. Angelo State University is growing. More students means more faculty and support staff are needed to manage, educate and support them. Students (often thru their parents ) and faculty members buy houses.San Angelo has also been identified by smart people who live elsewhere as a great place to live.

(This is something that we knew anyway, but we are to see it affirmed. )

Yet one more positive force for growth here is the oil business. Whether we like $3.00 gasoline or not, in many ways San Angelo’s economy benefits from high gasoline prices.